By the power vested in me

Being on the move for studies or job never allowed me to do the paperwork necessary for becoming a part of the Universal Adult Franchise, officially. Or maybe I used my so called nomadic life and the abject political scandals as an excuse to stay away from the ‘dirty’ politics and treat voting day as a holiday of sorts, chanting ‘No one can help this country’. But not this year.

It wasn’t just out of whim, let me clarify. A lot triggered me to come out of my quilt and walk all the way to the polling center to exercise my right. First, I had had enough of shit that was so cleverly hidden under the cloak of pretentious development. Ok, you built flyovers, but you never made sure that they don’t become a hot spot for picking up and raping women, despite repeated cries for help. Yes I am biased towards justice for women who don’t just step out to shop, gossip or party, but to stand on their feet, earn their living and contribute to the society. Bite me. Second, I was tired of the coffee table discussions over numerous scandals, I was tired of pointing finger at the unbelievably screwed up policies. So, I decided to raise a finger to do something about it, vote. Third, I was appalled by what my house maid said when I asked her if she is going to vote this year.

Our house help, let’s call her Sura (don’t ask me why I chose this name), is a tiny middle aged lady who belongs to Uttar Pradesh. One day, I and my mother were talking about the political campaigns, when we asked Sura if she’ll vote. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I?” she said, very gladly. I looked at her and smiled with a little pride that maybe the uneducated class of our society isn’t that ignorant about their rights, and so things are not as bad as we think they are. But then, Sura had to thrash my false pride in our people by elaborating her answer:

“I vote from Lucknow. It is like a family reunion during this time. We are sent train tickets (both ways) to come to Lucknow. Free of cost. And it is winter na… so we will be given a sari and a warm shawl also. Who would mind going and voting if the party does so much for you?”

Are you kidding me?

Sadly, this is not new. This has been happening since ages. How else can we have criminals in our State Assemblies and even Parliament? These jerks have been buying their way in by spending their black money and our white money in such campaigns. And the uneducated and illiterate population of our country has been bartering its life for a few meters of cloth and a couple of packets of food, once in every few years, just to suffer a little more. News is that a couple of political parties have been distributing thousands liquor bottles in various areas so that people get drunk and don’t turn up for voting!

How can I do anything about it without getting my hands dirty? I love my job, my life with its own set of bitter sweet problems and I can’t leave all that to get into politics, sadly the filthiest of all professions. But maybe my one vote can stir this witchy concoction just a little bit. Maybe if you add your vote to it, we might stir it a little bit more. And may be a few more votes like these can churn this venom into some magic elixir! I know it sounds a bit fairytale-ish, you know, the good wins over the evil and all. But what if these stories were told to us for a reason other than to put us to sleep? May be they were actually meant to wake us up to a possibility that if we be good and perform our duties, we might even win someday.

So let’s wake up. Let’ try it again. Let’s not give up. Let’s vote.